Please call 911 or go to your closest hospital emergency room. You can also use the crisis text line to reach professional mental health crisis counselors.

Crisis Text Line
Text HOME to 741741

Alane Freund, MS, MA, ICHS, LMFT, ES, MHS, HSP.

• MS, MA: I have two master’s degrees: an MS in Clinical Psychology and an MA in School Counseling.
• ICHS is International Consultant on High Sensitivity. The ICHS are a select group of professionals specially trained by Dr. Elaine Aron to consult and educate about the research, science, and characteristics of sensory processing sensitivity, the trait HSPs have. We are experts and also a speakers’ bureau.
• LMFT is my license to practice psychotherapy in the state of California: Licensed Marriage and Family TherapistTo become licensed, LMFTs obtain 3000 hours of supervised experience in addition to a graduate degree in psychology (Lic. #LMFT36077).
• ES, MHS: I am also certified by the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association as both an Equine Specialist (horse professional) and a Mental Health Specialist (equine assisted therapist).
• HSP: And by now you know I am one of the 20%, a highly sensitive person.

Most consultation and therapy sessions are 45-55 minutes long whether tele-therapy, phone consultation, in the office, or equine assisted therapy. Family, couples, and intake sessions might take a little longer, up to 60 minutes. I like to ask clients to schedule 75-90 minutes for sessions so that they have time to sit quietly for a few minutes before and after each appointment. It makes a big difference for highly sensitive people to create a quiet buffer for transitioning from one activity to the next. 

Having been a consultant and mental health practitioner for three decades, I have a deep and diverse toolbox. Our underlying goal will be to find solutions. As a solution-oriented consultant and therapist, I believe that every client has their own answers that can be discovered by helping them tell their story.

To make an appointment, please reach out on the contact form below to request a consultation. I have very limited availability, so you will first be placed on the waiting list. Members of Are You Highly Sensitive are automatically placed at the top of the list are also have access to “One Question Calls” which are short, focused consultation appointments (about 20 minutes.) To find out more about becoming a member and having access to two masterclasses every month, visit this link: https://alane-freund.mykajabi.com/areyouhighlysensitive

There is a contact form on this website, or you can email [email protected]. 

I encourage interested parties to explore my videos on YouTube or attend one of my monthly masterclasses (find on the Events tab) to see if my style of support is right for you.

Individual and family consultations or therapy appointments are all $450 each (15% off for members of the Are You Highly Sensitive community). They are 45-55 minutes and the same fee whether on the phone, video, in person, or with the horses. Members of the Are You Highly Sensitive community also have access to “One Question Calls” which are brief, focused, solution oriented consults for $100.

Sensitivity Circles are monthly or weekly online small group sessions on particular themes including: Parenting, Highly Sensitive Professionals, Sensitive Youth, HSPs and Relationships, Highly Sensitive Women over 55, Highly Sensitive Women, and Highly Sensitive Men, HSQ (LGBTQ+ HSPs). Sensitivity Circle fees are sliding scale $110-$60/meeting. Register on Eventbrite by searching my name, Alane Freund, LMFT. (Eventbrite link)

AYHS–Are You Highly Sensitive LIVE membership includes monthly masterclasses for HSPs and for Parents of Sensitive Youth. Masterclasses are live and also all members receive recordings. I answer questions that are pre-submitted or asked live, so it’s a live Q&A! The fee for the AYHS membership is $37/month. Register at this link. (No one is turned away for lack of funds at AYHS.)

My services are covered by PPO insurance that pays for out-of-network psychotherapy. I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (Lic. #LMFT36077) and will provide a superbill in order for you to be reimbursed by your insurance company at the rate they pay for mental health services.

My long career in mental health and school counseling has given me experience in a variety of settings, and I have learned that diversity means many different things. I have worked in community mental health and in schools, and thanks to those experiences, I have a great passion for collaboration.

I am experienced with a great range of mental health issues, though I am now focused on supporting families and highly sensitive people. Alternative and diverse families come in a variety of configurations, and I have supported a great many of them over the past three decades.

My own family is ethnically, culturally, and racially diverse as well as part of the LGBTQ+ communities. I have completed extensive training in confronting racism, and I am a certified African American service specialist. I am also a certified LGBT service specialist.

Yes I do! I am certified in diversity training with the queer community and am culturally competent. In fact, I offer cultural competency training for health professionals, educational settings/schools, and businesses who want to better support and understand their LGBTQ+ clients, students, customers, and employees.

Some of my young clients and their families struggle with childhood learning differences, ADHD, anxiety, or chronic illness. Through consultation, I support parents in the very challenging journey of loving and raising a child who has challenges other children don’t have.

Children and teens living with these challenges often flourish in my equine-assisted therapy practice. Horses communicate on a different level – they speak horse – and verbal human language is irrelevant. Horses respond to the inside of a person, and they tend to love the tender insides of children of all types.

It depends on your goals and presenting questions. We generally begin with a first session to check it out. Then I will ask you to commit to five or ten appointments depending on the work we will do together. I am a big believer in solution-oriented therapy which means we will work on solutions in every session. Most clients come for short bursts of 5-15 sessions to solve a specific problem or issue. Toward the end of a group of 5-15 sessions, we will talk about what is best for you moving forward. I also offer one time consultations. 

Often young people who are constantly growing and changing benefit from ongoing support.

Highly sensitive people who are learning a new way of living and the five to thrive might also choose to attend therapy longer, particularly if they have not done much therapy in the past and have trauma they are learning to heal and transform. Often I will refer such clients to a therapist who works in that modality. 

I am not a medical doctor and thus do not prescribe medication. I do sometimes recommend a client seek the consultation of a colleague who is a prescribing psychiatrist, especially in instances of debilitating mental illness.

Medication can be a good tool for creating a break in a difficult cycle.

I also refer clients to holistic practitioners and have a team of colleagues who are well-versed in the trait of high sensitivity, including acupuncturists, hypnotherapists, chiropractors, nutritionists, energy healers, cranial sacral therapists, a therapeutic chef, and others. These professionals work collegially with me to help our clients heal and flourish.